August 2015

August 16, 2015

Pre Pride Bingo has always been one of my favorite events and the June 24 show was no exception. Lots of friends were in from out of town - my best pal Matt was in from San Francisco celebrating his 50th and our friends Chris and Paul were visiting from Toronto - and, with our cast of regulars - Evan, Tony, Kylie, "Santa" and many others - Uncle Charlies became a non stop party.

Porn star Drew Sumrok and Burlesque star/producer Matt Knife joined us for an evening of performances, auctions and birthdays. Click here for the gallery - there are about 35 pics in there so scroll all the way through because you don't want to miss the super sexy pics of Drew that our photogAB caught throughout the evening.

The night was a fundraiser for one of our favorite charities, Iris House.

Thanks to Matt Knife for putting together a very special Pride strip and thanks to everyone who came out - and to those that bid on Drew's jockstrap! See, everyone wins!

August 15, 2015

On June 17 I had to be out of town for a work thing and so I asked my pal Arsenio Amadis to cover for me - and he took the opportunity to raise funds for his favorite organization, Help is on the Way and feature two of his favorite entertainers - singer Will Perez and the always entertaining Beardonna. Plus, the gang celebrated our friend Evan's birthday with delicious looking cupcakes. (Yum!)

August 10, 2015

After his performance, Lewd Alfred and I talked quite abit about transgender issues and it was awesome.. because I always love getting an education because, while I'm not always up on the current terms (I cannot quite get a handle the term "cis-gender" but I'm trying) and I probably worry too much about offending my trans friends by unwittingly saying something stupid (I know of a couple of my friends who would put their hand on mine and say "relax"), I can take some comfort knowing that geezus H I'm not as much of a moron as some of my gay bros.

Yow know the ones. The ones that seemed like ordinary gays until Caitlyn showed up.. and then their brains turned to clam dip and they became schoolyard bullies. Gee, take on the role of your oppressor, much??

If you havent seen comments like this, lucky you. It didn't take much to run into neanderthal comments making fun of trans people over the past few months - just look at Facebook whenever Caitlyn is featured in a story or on Towleroad when people are discussing the controversy over the "Stonewall" movie... I am appalled at the ignorance and cruelty... actually, I'm appalled mostly at just the ignorance because I've come to expect people to be absolute asswipes online (and sometimes in real life too)...and for all our shortcomings, the one thing I've always counted on in the LGBT community is that people are at least politically aware and somewhat smart. Making fun of transgender people? That's low. Saying that 'they' are not part of "our" community? Hmmm did they not notice the T in "LGBT".?. or did those queens think that T stood for Tina? (THAT T should not be a part of our community).

Sorry about the rant, this stuff makes me super ragey.

I think that Caitlyn said it best at the ESPY Awards:

“If you wanna call me names, make jokes, doubt my intentions, go ahead. Because the reality is I can take it. But for the thousands of kids out there coming to terms with being true to who they are, they shouldn't have to take it.”

In the end, we raised hundreds of dollars so that TDELF can continue its mission to defend those in harms way - and to educate people who need it. By the looks of it, there is a lot of schoolin' to be done.

August 09, 2015

As I've written about previously, this summer, I decided to make good on my earlier word about doing some Bingo nights here and there by booking ten nights at Uncle Charlies here in NYC. Overall, I'm glad that I took the time to make this happen - it was great to see old friends, work with AB and Manny (and "Rufus"), and raise a few bucks for some of my favorite charities.

But, without being too much of a bummer or telling tales on my peeps, much of the summer was spent chasing people to show up and there were lots of last minute cancels from people that I would never in a million years have dreamt would flake out on me, notably drag queen Gusty Winds on the first week and the Anti Violence Project on the last week. In both cases (and others) I got mad at first, then had to scramble to fix it, and then just kind of got sad that people I love and trust could treat me and my show with such little regard. But, admittedly, being out of the nightlife/fund raising sandbox for a year and a half is sure recipe for "out of sight, out of mind".

So, for our first week on June 3, I was grateful to Beardonna who made a point to drive in to the city from Jersey for a last minute gig and, as usual, put together a kick ass performance. But more than a kick ass performance, Beardonna proved that he is a true professional and a pal. Thanks, Beardonna! :)

Also joining us for that first night was Shane, the producer of the first Fire Island Bear Weekend and the co-producer (with me!) of the First Fire Island Bear Contest. The Bear weekend was to happen the first weekend in June so it was good timing - and as a side note, it was a huge success (particularly the contest, which I emceed and Beardonna performed at... and as a side side note, Gusty showed up at the contest in boy drag and helped sell some raffle tickets when we found ourselves short handed due to the sheer size of the audience. So, all is forgiven more or less).

The whole first night back of Bingo benefited AIDS Ride South Africa, an organization that is really doing great work. They are on their ride right now and you can go right to the source if you go to Facebook and friend Bryan Mark Urbsaitis

August 02, 2015

Good afternoon, peeps - hope you've been doing great this summer and that you've had a good one ... or, if you haven't, that it gets better soon.

This Wednesday night, August 5 will be our last Bingo for the summer - and actually for some time although I have no idea when I might resurface. Here's the story - as you remember, a year and a half ago, I closed down the weekly show when my day job was too stressful and involved for me to continue to emcee and produce and promote. It was a glorious end to an amazing 9 year part of my life.

But, this winter, things slowed down enough that I did three shows in March and then came up with the idea to do ten shows this summer. I may have bitten off a little more than I could chew to be honest although we've had a lot of fun this summer (I'll post the entire summer's worth of pics in one big photo dump). :)

Anyway, with this weeks show, not only am I coming to the end of the summer run but I'm also celebrating 20 years as a performer/producer... and what an incredible 20 years it's been - 48 movies, 13 Bad Boys parties on the west coast, 10 on the east coast, 140 Cocktails with the Stars at Micky's,469 P*rno Bingo nights and of course hundreds of strip shows, one man shows, contests, articles on line and in prints. I estimate that I've made roughly 1500 appearances over the past 20 years.

That's a lot of mileage for a pale skinny redhead from Wisconsin who turned to porn as a kind of lark, really. I thought that I'd make a little money to keep my writing going ... and then 20 years later, I have all of .. well, this. I can't even begin to recount what it's meant to me, at least not today. But suffice to say, it's been fucking amazing and I'm grateful for everything.

You know, early on, I thought that getting awards was what would mark my achievements - and I was hungry to get recognized and bummed when I didn't. By the time I did, I had amassed tons of emails from friends and fans who enjoyed the work that I had done by then, and those became what mattered to me. Then a few awards came my way, and while appreciative, they ceased to have the same meaning that I had initially assigned to them. And that's probably how it should be, right?

So we'll raise a glass this Wednesday night and give a toast and then I'll complete the show and the summer run. What's next is as much a mystery to me as it is to you. I'm fairly sure that there'll be some more Bingo nights in the future but no promises when or really even if. However, I'm at the point where I can't do put the show together alone any longer. To return, I'll have to hire a producer of some sort. Not sure how to find someone with the right sensibility but I figure if I just put it out to the universe, someone will show up (as a side note, that hasn't really worked out well for my seemingly endless search for a great boyfriend, but hey, whatever).

Anyway, but whatever comes next, I know that you're with me. That means more than I can probably put into words here.